Monsanto announced that 500 companies in Brazil, including some of the largest soy exporters in the country, have agreed to collect seed royalties on behalf of the company for a fee. Now it is up to Monsanto to finalize the agreement and negotiate individual payments with member companies of Abiove, the country’s crushing association, which includes multinationals such as Cargill, Bunge, Archer Daniels Midland, and Louis Dreyfus. To date, none of the Abiove member companies, which account for 85% of the soybeans bought in Brazil have received a payment offer. If payments are not received before harvest, Abiove member companies could refuse to buy soybeans grown from Monsanto’s Intacta RR2 Pro soybean seeds, which represents up to 25% of the soybeans grown in Brazil, limiting the amount of soybeans available to ship when the harvest begins in January.
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